#wasthatafanfic

[was-that-a-pun]

I like it when Doey gets bullied into taking care of himself

Me tooooo

It's so nice having a self sacrificing characters that try to hide their every weakness and need and the people he's protecting not having any of it!

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

What a lovely dream

Chapter 8: Stretch around Play around

Last< --- >Next

Susan jolted awake, and for a moment wasn’t sure where exactly she was, beyond the bowels of Playtime of course, and deeply disappointed to have to wake from what had to have been an especially nice dream.

Except- there was a cozy little blanket tent across from her, painted doodles and murals scrawled all about, and fairy-lights spread their way up the wall above her.

Not to mention the giggles she heard were playful instead of menacing as little plush paws hurried away from her resting spot and she suddenly realized that what had woken her was a Lovebug doll being carefully slid into her arms as she slept.

She looked down at the long discontinued stuffed toy in her hands.

She’d noticed most of the normal toys scattered about were older, discontinued or rejected ones. Was it just what they had available? Or was it just that little bit too weird to play with something you or someone you knew were forced to become?

Either way the gesture was appreciated and she made sure to give it an exaggerated hug for whichever critters had done it to see. The fact they'd managed to sneak the thing into her unconscious grasp made plain how soundly asleep she’d been, probably for the first time in ages.

As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, tucked there just to the side of the auxiliary power door, and the world came into focus Susan was pleased to spot Doey deep in conversation with Scout.

The Boogie Bot was stood on the counter of the goods shop showing how they’d chosen to organize their new supplies and discussing the best way to ration them.

A critter came up and Susan couldn’t hear what they asked but Doey didn’t take his attention away from Scout, head staying in place as his body took a few steps away, up righted a table that had been stored on another one, placed it down to an unseen thumbs up from the critter, and returned to where it had started.

Next was a Mini Wuggy, tapping his shin and pointing at something on the shelf to which Doey opened a palm to the toy, stretched it up so it could grab what it wanted and lowered it back down.

Finally was Izzy coming out of the storage area and barely pausing long enough to poke Doey in the elbow so that he dropped his hand for her to casually scale and flop over his shoulder as if it were a common place activity, joining the talks herself.

All with the conversation barely skipping a beat, it was honestly impressive to watch.

She smiled to herself as she quietly slipped out of the main room and headed to the infirmary where she’d left her pack with Medic.

---

Susan tsked as she found it and found her stash of first aid supplies mostly untouched. She’d made it clear he could take anything he wanted but Medic refused most of what she offered telling her she should keep it with her... And actually use it.

She had a feeling the bot was not going to let her poor personal first aid choices go anytime soon.

But that wasn’t why she’d wanted to check her things. Susan pulled out the crumpled mess of documents she’d collected on her way there.

The supplies she’d brought were nothing and the fact it had not only fed the entirety of safe haven and they could still keep some in reserves truly drove home how long and how much they’d been struggling.

Susan had no doubt that every possible resource had already been searched through and picked clean but there was a chance that she could get very very lucky. A different perspective on things never hurt after all and there had to be a few things she’d picked up in her repeated break in’s you just wouldn’t run into when trying to break out.

So she poured over every note, scribble, memo and purchase order she’d pilfered on her way through the prison to try and find a lead.

She was distracted though, something she’d overheard as she drifted off the night before. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop but that Poppy’s voice could travel and it wasn’t as if she’d been trying to keep it down.

‘I didn't know it had gotten this bad .I... I need to make this right...’

The thought that more of the orphans were alive, that there was a chance to save them even after all this time was wonderful, even if it did sound like a pipe dream but the rest -

‘THAT'S our revenge.’

Susan dragged her hands down her face, making her think of how the same action smudged and smeared Doey’s expression during their talk but that was just more mind wandering.

She understood poppy’s motivation, she’d certainly wanted to say screw it and detonate an issue standing in her way more than once but there were So. Many. Flaws. in the dolls plan, worst of which was it didn’t include anything about getting the residents of safe haven to safety.

“Ugghh, one thing at a time Susan. Food first.”

---

“Hmmnn…”

A while later a thought occurred to her and she stood, stretching the tightness out of her spine and going to see who she could find first.

Scout was still out in the main area, actually on her way out of what Susan assumed was their tv room and on her way back to the main area, thankfully not minding as she joined her.

She needed to know if there’d ever been any other Playtime Employee’s after The Hour Of Joy down here. Not the guards or the scientists she’d already been told had been imprisoned but after them. Ones like poppy’s friend that may have shown up in groups and how recently they’d last been seen.

Scout considered, rolling her treads as she thought.

“It’s been a long time I think. A couple years. But we have seen them come down here. Usually they don’t last long though.”

The disbelieving laugh got Susan a surprised look and she waved it off even as she explained herself.

“Sorry, it’s just that that may be some very good news for everyone. Playtime’s ‘extraction specialists’, I’ve run into them more than a few times over the years.”

An understatement, they were often given the side task of dragging her back out of the factory and she’d had to keep close to them without their notice more than once to make her way through especially difficult areas.

“And they tend to be sent in with enough supplies to last a good while, since Playtime doesn’t let them back out until they’ve accomplished whatever they were sent in for. The more that didn’t make it out? The more caches.”

Scout whirred with excitement.

“And they always showed up in areas we’d already cleared out...or that are too dangerous to scavenge from. But more supplies, newer supplies, that could be amazing!”

She pumped a little lego claw hand into the air and Susan noticed a few hopeful faces peeking out at them.

She truly hoped she wasn’t getting anyone’s hopes too high with her theory.

“I can’t promise anything -”

Scout was quick to assure her she understood, they all knew how these things went.

But sometimes it was fun to get excited.

Their attention was drawn by activity on the other side of the main room and they both watched for a moment.

“And continuing the topic of employee’s - why is Poppy’s Employee friend crawling into a vent?”

“That one leads to storage, I think Ed and Bittsy were arguing earlier, She probably locked the gate into the reading room and Ed talked the Employee into opening it for them.”

Susan nodded just a little longer than one normally would before finally giving into her own curiosity “...Bittsy?”

“-it’s short for Ittsy Bittsy Kissy Missy.”

“Well now I have to ask-”

“-She picked it herself. Poppy’s friend has been helping out here and there all morning. They even found me a notebook! I thought we’d used all these up ages ago!”

---

With Scout affirming extractions had happened at some point in the last few years in the area, something promising was starting to piece itself together in the cell block she’d come through to get to safe haven.

She was narrowing down possible cache locations when her attention was drawn by familiar hushed voices.

This time she was eavesdropping.

‘It's the best for everyone,’ ‘-we're not just things gone wrong’ ‘...I had to leave. I had no choice.’

‘-to burn everything? ALL of us?’

She hung on every word, concern ever growing, and heart aching at the pain in her sons voice.

‘We've made our life protecting these toys, and they've... saved us, in more ways than one.-’

"Poppy, she needs you. Done what I could."

She hadn’t noticed the soft hum of Medics wheels, passing right under her line of sight as he rolled past to alert Poppy and Doey and cut the argument short.

The delicate little doll paused just outside Susan’s ‘room’ and turned back to him with an exhausted, apologetic look.

"I... wish there was another way, Doey. But I just don't see it... We'll talk about this later."

It was when she turned back that their eyes met for just a glance. Poppy startled to find they’d had an audience and dropping her gaze to hurry on to Kissy’s side.

Medic paused as well, turning his attention her way.

“Ah Susan. How are you healing up?”

“You’re hurt?”

She only had a second to flash daggers at the bot before Doey was peeking into the room with a fresh look of concern on his face. That toy absolutely knew what he was doing.

“Hardly, just a nick on my leg.”

She’d had plenty worse,

“Five stitches.”

How could a tiny lcd screen look so smug?! she shot back.

“Waste of thread”

Medic was just still insulted by her slap-dash bindings

“That’s what they all say. Before the gangrene. At least now I know. Where you get it from.”

He huffed at Doey, threw up his tiny robot toy arms, and rolled away.

They watched him leave, each of their lips pressed in a small line at the outburst. Doey stretching his neck a little to watch them roll down the hall before looking back at her and her matching expression.

He laughed.

A bright joyful giggle that made Susan’s heart flutter. Because it was just so unmistakably him, He looked nothing like himself, like the 8 year old he’d once been. Now mixed and muddled with the two other parts of him she would still have to get to know.

But in this moment the cheerful grin, the laugh, the crinkle of his eyes, it was her Jackie unmistakably shining through.

“He can be a bit of a silly, but he’s usually right. Are you sure you’re okay mom?”

He was looking over her properly now, brow furrowing as he realized just how much blood was dried on her pants leg and the length of the roughly stitched slice in the fabric.

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice that before.” the frown smoothed back to concern “That looks like a lot of blood, I’m sorry I-”

“Hey-” She gently grabbed his elbow, getting him to stop stretching his way around her in the tight space.

“I really am okay, there’s nothing to be sorry about, just a lucky love tap from a dino. Medic’s right. I, in his words, ‘barely bothered to. lay a tissue over it’ ” she did her best impression and got a small giggle for the effort.

“Just got too excited to get here, made it look worse than it is.” She held his hand in hers and patted it with the other.

His expression shifted through a few emotions as he looked back at her, a little suspicion poking through, but ultimately he accepted what she was telling him.

“Good, I’m glad you’re okay.”

The quiet moment was slightly lessened by Poppy’s just barely audible voice talking to Kissy Missy at the other end of the infirmary.

It wasn’t her place, she’d only just shown up after 12 years of absence from his life bbuuut-

“Sooo…Poppy”

“You heard”

She nodded apologetically struggling for diplomacy in her next words

“It’s just-”

“It’s a bad plan”

“It’s SUCH a bad plan!” She kept her voice low but it came out in an urgent hiss. “ You might not even have to worry about it affecting safe haven she might blow up her and her employee friend before it ever starts!”

And that wasn’t even getting into the whole sacrificing everyone part of things.

“I know! I told her, but – Ugh!” He tensed, fists clenching before letting it all go with a huff “What am I supposed to do?” his expression shifted as if one thought had been cut off by another “Do you think you cou-?” another shift, brow creasing “I mean it’s not like she listens to me anyway.”

---

The lanky pink toy was too long for the hospital beds and instead a bed of mattresses, blankets, and pillows had been spread out on the floor of the infirmary ‘room’ and Poppy was perched on a chair at Kissy’s side. It brought her just to Kissy’s sitting eye level without forcing her friend to hunch.

Doey cleared his voice and Poppy let out a long suffering sigh.

“This isn’t what I meant by later Doe-”

She paused, thrown off by Susan’s expression, just barely visible past Doey’s bulk. Her hands were clasped, bent pointer finger pressed to her lips very obviously trying not to speak out of turn.

Poppy’s expression shifted from long suffering to suspicious.

“What?”

“...well…”

[was-that-a-pun]

Does 36000 combined work?

Okay okay I've got one I think will be fun!!

Spin this wheel of like 160ish fandoms of varying levels of popularity.

Extra points for telling me all about your thoughts in the tags :D

[justabeewithapen]

May I ask for some fic recommendations?

OFC!!! Let me hook you up, starting with the Doey centric fics!! (popping them under a keep reading as it is long haha!)

So KingAggressive (hiiii homie) has some banger fics but I imagine you've already read their most popular one "It's Fine (It isn't Fine)" if not read that, but they recently finished one called "Don't Leave Me" which is about one of the orphans waking up and finding themselves at Safe Haven. Phenomenal time, if you enjoyed having your heart wrenched out or just some well written character interactions (The Doctor is so sadistic it brings me much joy) you'll love it! (They have another fic "Doey's Offer" very fluffy very fun)

"Rotating Thoughts" by SilverStarSheep is wonderful, love how they wrote Doey's indecision and inner monologue so much, definitely influenced my view on him!

"Home Sweet Home" Is a really cute little one-shot about the Ayers actually taking Doey home that day, Machiinebun writes a very realistic emotional outburst.

"And Give Me the Will to Never Stop Trying" by NeonLite also has influenced my headcanons, it is a very emotional story that gives us some of Doey's frustrations with Poppy alongside a really cool and cute connection with Dogday.

I know YOU have already read this but I LOVE LOVVVVEEEE Recommending "I Swore Above All Else, I'd Choose You Over Myself." by AntiVoided because it does insane damage to my brain, I adore how they write Doey's interactions with the critters AND how they write his mind being out of his control.

"A Stray Feeling" by Nightgirl08 is a fun stream of consciousness style story where we are put in Doey's head during the destruction of Safe Haven when the Player arrives, and an alternative aftermath to that scene.

"To bring him home" by TitanTimberwolf is another Susan and George take Doey home fic, multichapter and currently unfinished but what we have now is amazing! I really enjoy how George is more involved in the process here and I think it is going to be really fun as it continues!

"The Amalgam and the Boy(s)" is a cute little oneshot about Doey encountering a kid after escaping the factory, written from the kid's perspective.

And ofc "Love Him Till The Day That You Die!" By wasthatafanfic, having Susan go into the factory to rescue him and it is just such a fun time!

For some fics that are good but aren't Doey Centric:

"Never Stop Trying" by AirQuotes2962, I love our main character Penny and her thoughts and how involved she is in the situations! Doey will eventually be in this fic but we haven't gotten there yet, I am very excited for it tho and if you enjoy Pre HOJ explorations of the labs you'll probably like this.

"Singularity" by TealishRegent is a fun fic about a Harley Body basically becoming its own sentient being!!

"and tell their ghosts we should've loved them" by JackalValcoun is a fun little oneshot exploring the player's guilt over the Bigger Body deaths.

We have TWO fun Pianosaurus fics, "In Too Deep" by ramblingsofacertifieddumbass and "The Pianosaurus Documentary" by MyScreamsAreWh1spers.

And finally "A Playtime Cascade" by Justanormalcoffeeaddict which is a crossover between Poppy Playtime and Half-Life, where the Cascade event accidentally connected their universes! It is fun so far!

These are not all the fics I've enjoyed, but just some of the fun ones I wanted to shout out! Hope you find something you enjoy :D

[jayde-jots]

If you find good fics of doey could you please make a fic rec list or please send me the links?

I'll do my best, the chapter is still relatively new so there aren't many good ones so far, or at the very least they're very early in development so I've only got the summaries to go off of. This one I think has the potential to be good-

Very few words and only one chapter so far, but is about if Jake's mother lived and came back to the factory for her kid. I'm a bit of a sucker for the monster getting human parental love trope, which considering this game, I'm surprised there's not more of. Or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place.

[was-that-a-pun]

okay okay I just got an ask that makes this the perfect time to talk about yet another au that popped into my head the other day (because we all know they breed like rabbits) before I answer it BUT

The au is that Playtime is legit, bigger bodies isn't a proposal to save money on labor force it's Playtime going public with it's research and ramping up availability.

Playcare is still very much a thing but the orphans who are turned into toys are because of severe health issues or unsurvivable injury and a lot of the kids there are not orphans but were sick kids who's parents brought them there to be saved. Children will excitedly discuss and debate what toy they're choosing to be turned into

The prison isn't a prison obviously, it's the main hospital, recovery, and intensive care for those who's health couldn't even be helped by being turned into a toy and have more severe care needs. )probably housing somewhere in there too toyified adults and for parents or family's who can't accommodate their kids in a normal home but want to stay together)

This is pretty much the exact opposite of the actual story with the kids and employee's being treated very well. No Hour of Joy happens in this story. (this is also an au where we're just gonna gloss riigghhtt over the ethical dilemmas of human experimentation and on minors pretending everyone is very well informed of all possible side effects and the therapists are amazing)

Jack still falls during the tour, but this time it's a legitimate tragedy and Susan and George are told as soon as it happens there's a chance that he can be saved but they need time to help him.

Jack isn't stable on his own, so they approach two of the boys who are already on the list for future procedures and are told that they have qualities that could help him survive what happened but it's up to them if they want to be included in the experiment. They both agree. Kevin maybe a little out of spite because he overhears dr white's hesitance because of his anger issues (which he's working on thank you very much)

Doey still has trouble in that first meeting, but this time his parents know what's going on and help him start to sort out his swirling thoughts and remember what happened and why there are so many conflicting memories in one head.

it doesn't take him all that long to recover and rejoin the other kids in playcare and get back to his friends (new friends/more friends!) back to school and continue figuring out his new way of being him

[was-that-a-pun]

HEHEHEHEEEEEE

“When we got in trouble they’d stick us back in there and close the lid *pop*… One time a researcher got really annoyed and put a clearance sticker on it.”

(Doey commercial music stops)

[was-that-a-fanfic]

Love Him Till The Day That You Die!

The Search Begins

Chapter 10: Go There

Last< --- >Next

It took another few rounds of assuring and swearing that she was telling the truth and would actually keep her word before he finally felt like he could leave her be and go give the generator a once over.

Once he was off she turned on her heels and headed toward the tunnel, tucking a snack bar where she was sure Medic would find it just for the satisfaction of being able to say later he’d said no medical supplies, and headed to the sewer’s.

Doey had told her he had ways of getting there a lot faster than a normal person could and they’d agreed she’d wait at the water treatment plant for him.

The sharp angle of the tunnel from the Infirmary down to the Sewer’s made the stitches in her leg pinch but it was a quick trip to the dank and dark tunnels. She was surprised to see employee lockers still had clothes and personal effects inside as she passed through and took the small lift up to the treatment area.

Slimy thick moss and lichen had laid claim to the area. It was...oddly pretty?

Then again she’d always found that sort of thing interesting so maybe she was just biased on the matter.

There was a pair of skeletons soaking in the still water of the treatment vat and none of the computers or systems around the room seemed to be powered, only the lights remained active.

But Medic had mentioned their water supply was coming straight from a spring in the cave and was surprisingly safe to drink. It was a certain kind of relief that even though they were starving they at least didn’t have to worry about having enough to drink and keep cleaned with.

Bright colors drew her attention to one side of the gear mechanisms and she huffed, a bit disbelieving.

The cardboard cutout was only a tad taller than her, much shorter than the real things 8 feet. She’d seen them before, all over and of all different toys, but it was – different – somehow. Now that she’d found him.

Suddenly it was endearing instead of taunting.

She glanced at the PRESS HERE button, then over her shoulder at the empty room.

"Hiyya there, I'm Doey. I can be anything you...knead. hehehehe!"

Despite herself a warm smile just started to quirk the edge of her mouth.

He was already everything she'd ever knead.

Minutes later she heard the lift again and Poppy’s Employee friend came in at a slow jog.

He had the thousand yard stare of someone who was, unfortunately, very very good at their job.

They didn’t speak, Susan’s lighter was dropped into her hand as he passed heading straight to the door out to no man’s land.

She didn’t expect him to pause at the threshold, or to look back at her with an expression of pure bafflement.

“Izzy wants - a cake.”

And with that he was out the door and on the search for clues about Doctor Sawyer’s state and whereabouts... and for a cake of all things.

Susan silently wished him the best of luck in that endeavor, especially because she had no idea how he was going to manage that one.

---

She was leaning against the door frame looking out at the so called No Man’s Land when she heard an odd almost ‘blorp’ noise in the room behind her.

“You’re here!”

She laughed as Doey hurried to her. Pure excitement on his face to find her waiting exactly where he’d asked her to wait for him.

“Of course. I promised, didn’t I?”

The barest flash of pain crossed his expression.

How many promises had been broken that he looked so shocked that she’d kept such a simple one? She’d heard him talking to Poppy about how she’d disappeared, unsure whether abandoning them or trapped or something else. How many had made ones they couldn’t keep, or just outright lied to him? How much was from their lives before?

But as soon as it came it was gone. Inside, the part of him that was Jack alone’s giddiness overshadowing the parts that were only Matthew and his concern for her safety and just Kevin’s distrust.

“Yeah you did! The generator's working as smoothly as it can so we’ve got a good while to see what we can find.”

That sounded like good news.

“Poppy’s friend has already headed out there, I take it Poppy’s sent him to find out what he can about Sawyer… And apparently Izzy’s asked him to find her a cake.”

Doey giggled as they made their way past tents and repositioned power poles the Employee had used to make their way out of this section of the caves, their path taking them to the left of the door he’d unlocked.

“That’s gonna be a tallll order. She’s really good at keeping track of things like dates and times and her birthday’s coming up. Not a lot of toys remember theirs so she gets a bit excited.”

The shutter was closed over the rails and his demeanor shifted. The cheerful carefree attitude tempering into a furrowed brow and careful gaze.

“Wait here for a second, I gotta go open this for you.”

He headed back the way they’d come, across the suspended rails and – dissolved – into a pipe overhead.

It made sense as a thing he was able to do she just – hadn’t thought about it.

She waited. Wandering back to peak into the security gates the Employee had opened, but not seeing much of interest, then wandered back.

She was bouncing the end of her bat off the toe of her boot when the shutter raised, Doey stood waiting at a lever just a bit further. The giddiness was gone, replaced by a weary perceptiveness as he silently motioned them forward.

Within Doey the part of him that was mostly Kevin was in charge now, watching for traps and hidden threats surrounding them.

He was good at that.

His constant vigilance for issues and danger had gotten him in a lot of trouble in the orphanage, where he’d tended to over react to even minor perceived threats.

But that had been a long time ago, and more often then not in the ensuing years the threats had been very very real. What had once been paranoia had kept him and the other residents of their haven safe and secure from a lot since.

Susan followed his lead, staying silent as she stuck close behind with her bat settled casually over her shoulder, comfortable but ready to swing if the need arose.

“Stay here.”

She backed into an alcove of abandoned construction equipment and collapsed pieces of wall, watching as he carefully crept along the edge of the tunnel. At one point dissolving again to flow behind a set of pipes before suspiciously checking one over.

Moments passed tensely before he seemed satisfied and relaxed.

“Okay.”

She came out of hiding, not seeing what was different from this pipe, it didn’t look like a red smoke one.

“What was it?”

His shoulders went up, tense.

“Traps, The Doctor made them special. It’s a lot easier to avoid them if it’s just me.”

The long lists of reason’s she had to not like Harley Sawyer just kept going didn’t it.

“Thought you said this area is way too dangerous to go alone?” her tone was playful but only to mask genuine concern.

“Never alone though, am I?”

She couldn’t argue that one.

He was a little less tense now, the traps didn’t tend to be too tightly packed so they had a little breathing room. Almost literally in fact, as the tunnel opened up momentarily into another larger cave area littered with the fallen bodies of toys and abandoned construction equipment.

He asked, nervously, about her journey there. What the upper floors were like now, since he barely remembered them anymore. If she’d seen any toys they’d once known and been friends with (she hadn’t). Did she know Poppy before? (no, not that either) She told him about the little glimpses she’d caught of them on the way and how before this she hadn’t even realized there was a living Poppy doll.

She didn’t leave much out, mostly the boring bits getting from one spot to the other. Poppy had apparently told him about her Employee’s run in’s with Huggy Wuggy, Mommy Long legs, Mrs Delight (He was very surprised to hear they’d been friends, and she was sad to hear what had happened to her) and Catnap on their way down.

Poppy apparently had not mentioned the train derailment and the realization that she’d been on the same train with them when it happened had Doey’s concern for her well being spiking again over possible concussions and internal bleeding.

What a great job she was doing of lessening his worries.

But Medic had checked her over thoroughly so she could safely assure him again that she was fine, just bruised and bloodied. And once she’d convinced him of that she switched gears and started describing the event like some action movie scene with obvious over the top embellishments that had him snickering.

In the middle of her harrowing search for the workroom key to get out to the caves to Playcare (the one hanging at eye height besides the locked door she needed it for) she realized his head was somewhere else.

Literally. His body was walking besides her keeping pace but his neck was stretched back the way they’d come and peeking into a room she hadn’t given much notice.

Susan laughed, grabbing his elbow so he didn’t keep going without her and calling back

“Found something?”

He snapped back together, head and body meeting in the middle as she backtracked and she was sure he’d be blushing a little if he could.

“Heh – um- yeah sorry. I was still listening! Just spotted some parts that are wearing down on the generator.”

“Sounds promising, let’s see what we’ve got.”

---

More abandoned industrial equipment, already partially disassembled from when he’d stripped them previously for other things they’d needed at safe haven. But time continued onward and now other parts that hadn’t been picked over yet were starting to show their age.

Susan had been ready to help, but when she asked if he had any extra tools he bashfully admitted they did have some, but they were all in safe haven, he usually just shifted his dough to do the job.

When he couldn’t remember if he’d already stripped some equipment farther down the hall neither thought anything of her going to check, it had been awhile but he’d been through most of this area already and it was generally pretty quiet.

She didn’t realize she’d missed the door till the low thrum and rumble of conveyors hit her ears, huffing in frustration that she’d wandered farther than she’d meant to.

The hall had turned into catwalks and balconies that periodically looked down at a maze of wires and switches below. Again making her wonder who thought this mess made for a functional construction site. At least there weren’t a bunch of jump pads over endless chasms she supposed. She almost imagined she could hear the whirr of a grab pack somewhere off in the distance.

Actually, there was another noise, she could only just register it, it seemed like it was moving, but she couldn’t tell just what it was.

Best to find her way back, hopefully Doey hadn’t noticed how far she’d strayed. At least she hadn’t run into any trouble yet.

As soon as she thought that the noise came again. Much much clearer this time. A distorted jingle that crackled like it was being played from cheap damaged speakers.

She froze mid step, slowly turning toward the hall she’d just been passing.

It stood on it’s hind legs on the far end of some lockers, as if they did anything to hide it’s large rainbow yarn covered form. Drawn up almost like a begging pet.

Friendly round eyes glanced sidelong at her, adorable smile stretched a little wider as their gazes met. She took a slow step back as it lowered onto all fours, head still tilting curiously this way and that as it stared at her almost lovingly.

This wasn’t good.

“Hey-ya there pal, how about we jus-”

The head split open top to bottom, revealing its viscera-red hollowed out globe of a skull and two rings of spittle flecked sharp fangs. What was with Playtime and the double sets of teeth?!

It screeched and she was already running, the experience all too familiar as plush paws pounded and claws scraped at the linoleum close behind her.

It was fast, too fast. She could almost feel it nipping at her heels as she hit the end of the hall she’d come from. It broke into a T but directly ahead there was an alcove probably meant for some sort of cable access and she took a risk.

She slid, slamming into the back of the alcove with claws following close behind.

Yarnaby snarled and snapped at the too narrow gap, claws scrabbling one at a time trying to reach her, and periodically playing discordant little snippets of music.

The space was tight but she had just enough room to wriggle out of her pack and dig into a side pocket. A paw got just a little too close and she gave it a kick, causing Yarnaby to pull away for a moment almost as if it was taken aback before resuming its attack. But by then she’d found what she needed and the lighter was still in her pocket from when the Employee had given it back to her.

“Sorry kitty, no hard feelings.”

Aerosol spray hit lighter flame and blossomed out into a fireball, sending Yarnaby reeling and pawing at their face as the yarn around their head singed.

He rolled and pressed his head across the floor, putting out the smoldering threads and roared as it stalked back toward the alcove again.

But then a sound caught his attention, the familiar vreeee of a hand scanner being activated. That was right, they’d been told to find the grabby hands man, not the lady! What were they doing letting themselves be distracted, they had a job to do!

With a chuff and one last shake of their mane they sprinted in the direction of the noise.

---

She kept the aerosol can and lighter ready the whole way back to where Doey was just finishing up on the last of the parts they needed. Blocking a few doors as she went.

“There’s only one Yarnaby right?” You never knew with Playtime.

Doey blinked, a bit surprised by the question.

“Yeah, I think so.”

That was a relief.

“Good because he seems to be heading in the opposite direction we are, at least for now.”

She explained the whole experience as they dumped a few boxes and crates of their useless contents and packaged up the parts he’d collected. Pausing to give a quick demonstration of her home made flamethrower, much to his delight.

After some discussion on what to do next, there were a lot of parts after all, it was decided they were too valuable to leave in the caves to pick up on the way back and too cumbersome to take with them, they’d looped back on themselves a little anyway so as long as they were careful it wouldn’t take too long to drop everything off in the treatment facility, then continue on.

Nice, simple, quick...Until the bottom broke out of the box Susan had been using to carry her share (a tiny amount compared to the shipping crate Doey was easily hefting with the rest, she suspected he’d only bothered splitting them so she could feel like she was helping)

“Well that’s just crate.”

They starred at the scattered parts for a long moment before looking at each other and laughing so hard they couldn’t breath.

Still gasping for breath Susan waved him ahead while she picked up the mess, he’d needed to check if the coast was clear anyway. She was still snickering to herself as she finished up and heard the whirr of a door opening and Doey speaking in the next room.

"Oh, it's you! Is the Doctor…”

She joined in time to see Poppy’s Employee friend giving an apologetic shake of the head. It made sense, none of them had been gone for very long, couldn’t blame the wishful thinking though.

“No, don't suppose he is then...I've been here gathering parts for the generator. LOTS of--"

The moment the pipe burst time stopped moving in a way that made sense.

He was laughing, pleased with their haul then he – he was just solid crystallized ice frozen in the moment of shock and pain as he’d tried to move away only able to utter a single pained gasp.

She knew she screamed, a desperate terrified “NOO!” That tore it’s way out of her as the box slipped from her hands.

She knew she ran, the same desperation fueling her, frantic to do something - anything - to help him.

She was, on some level, even aware of the Employee, expression shocked and horrified but staying where they were. Only their gaze going up, over, across. And in the seconds it took her to sprint the length of the room they’d fired the grab pack at something in the ceiling and yanked.

They were lucky, so very lucky that he had. She wasn’t usually one to act without thinking but the abject, gut-wrenching terror that after everything, after all these years searching she was going to lose him just like that- Her only thought had been to get between him and the thing causing him pain. Regardless of how little difference it would have actually made.

The frigid air burned against her shoulder even as it sputtered to a stop and to her eternal relief as soon as it did he started to thaw. One arm drooping and dragging at his feet as he staggered away from the spent trap whimpering "Hurts hurts hurts hurts hurts" as he stumbled.

Without the immediate threat of losing her son blinding her Susan could think a little more clearly, scrambling for the boxes of papers she’d passed, hauling them across the room closer to the corner Doey was huddled in and lighting a corner of the lid.

The Employee stood, looking uncertain if there was anything else they could do to help or if they should go.

She paused as she swung the pack off her shoulders, only long enough to lock eyes with the Employee and say a quick “Thank you” that still conveyed that he’d done all he could here, he could go, they would be fine.

"He's made it impossible for me to get around here. Traps like this are everywhere!” He seemed dazed as the last of the ice melted away, hunched and shivering, she doubted he remembered she was there as she tore open the little silver square of an emergency blanket.

“It's the cold that hurts...The big mean doctor knows that…” He sounded so small, so defeated. Her poor baby boy, how often had this been done to them?

“It's okay. You're okay. It's all okay..." He’d wrapped his arms around himself, trying to comfort the other parts of him even as he remained just as shaken.

He jumped as a sudden glimmer of silver flung into the air, crinkling as she stretched to tuck it around his shoulders. She wanted to coo soft reassurances like she had so long ago... but gentle voices -

She touched his elbow, waiting for him to focus on her, still sniffling. She blinked, realizing her face was wet with tears as well as she wiped them from his cheek.

Wherever and whatever Doctor Sawyer was he had better be counting his days because she wasn’t just going to kill him, she was going to make sure he suffered.

Everything hurt, his body was stiff and every tiny movement felt like he was going to crack into a million pieces. But there was a blanket over his shoulders, and a fire beginning to crackle close by and his mother/their mother/our mother was looking up at them with so much love and concern.

“It’s okay. It's all okay” She whispered his own comforting words back to him, and he actually felt like he believed them this time.

He let the exhaustion win, curling up on the metal floor by the fire, head in her lap as she hummed absent melodies and kept watch.

[ao3feed-tmnt2k12]

Deep Roots

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2N4lg5A

by wasthatafanfic

With Leo finally awake things are starting to look up at the farmhouse. But when Raph decides a rematch is in order for their cut short game of Turtle Hunt the red masked terrapin may find some of their recent run in with The Creep may have effected him more deeply then any of them could have predicted.

Words: 2300, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 3 of Ontological Inertia

Fandoms: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Raphael (TMNT)

Additional Tags: within the woods, Body Horror, Double mutated

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2N4lg5A

[was-that-a-pun]

SO workin on Love Him Till The Day That You Die and Medic's gettin some backstory.

typing wise I'm breaking a lot of what he says into around 5 word mini sentences to try to get the cadence across.

They're one of the the only adult-turned-toy in the place (none evil anyway) and had been a Playtime employee. But they had NO IDEA what was actually going on as they'd been hired as an on site doctor for workers comp when (normal) incidents happened in the factory.

They were caught up in one of Sawyers 'incidents' and instead of just letting him die and call it a day they scooped him up as another experiment.

He wasn't involved in the hour of joy, didn't know it was going to happen and while retaliation from the toys seemed inevitable he was deeply disturbed just like the others that they killed everyone.

The Safe Haven toys know who he was, although most have forgotten over the years or just don't really think about it much, they're just Medic now.

They've done what they can beyond medical care over the years, mostly offering advice and encouragement where they can, but their expertise lies in healthcare and they could never keep everything going in a leadership role the way Poppy and later Doey does. They can run an infirmary and that's about it.

He finds Susan frustrating and entertaining because he hasn't gotten to snark much with another adult-adult in a very long time (thomas is too easily exhausted to keep up banter) and she's yet another patient who keeps doing stupid stuff and not bothering to get it properly looked at.

Sneakin in characters in this fic to take a little bit of the burden off Doey taking care of everyone <3 Izzy (Bobby Bearhug, yes that one, and she's gonna live dangit) and Scout (another Boogie bot) are less detailed in the background cause they're orphans like the rest of the critters and have been helping to keep the defenses running and everything organized (and harass Doey into taking care of himself sometimes too)

[was-that-a-pun]

I super missed this when it was first posted but alksdfh thanks for suggesting my fic to folks your comic was amazing and anon i want to read all the susan fix it fics!!

I love your doey and your doey with his mom is *chef's kiss*

It kicked my brain into writing a fic I was stewing over

I think I owe you my life

Thank you so much! Speaking of fics I got linked one thats basically a Susan lives fix it au and it’s literally everything I needed and wanted and it’s written beautifully.

I believe it’s @was-that-a-pun so go give them and the fic some love, if the link doesn’t work it’s called “love Him Till The Day That You Die” on AO3

[was-that-a-pun]

I'm writing Doey being reunited with his mom Susan and Kevin is like 'yeah of course its her fault she's a mom, moms fail you' while Jake and Matthew are like D8 ' wtf Kev no we've talked about this!'

[was-that-a-pun]

Did some more evil hand rubbing, and I had a horrible evil thought.

What if Jack's accident wasn't an accident?

I mean, surely they'd have the people on their tours listed, and if there was anyone who caught there interest. . .

Well, I'm sure loosening a few bolts in the guardrails by the vats would do the job, wouldn't it?

Even eviler idea, Susan comes across some paperwork detailing multiple "accident" setups, including Jack's.

Ohhhmg I can just picture it. This would destroy her she'd be absolutely furious!

There's a couple different ways it could go too,

Pre-shut down I could see this pushing her over the edge either into full on arsonist destroying everything the top brass cared about in roaring inferno.

Or in the other direction pushing her to take everything she knows as public as possible (she doesn't go this route in the main fic because she's scared they'd destroy the factory and kill Doey to cover their tracks rather than be caught)

Then there's the chance of timing lining up juuusstt right and her finding this out just before Leith comes in with some Security all cocky about kicking her out again and she could have the ultimate satisfaction of wringing his rotten little neck with her own hands >:D

No matter what she would be absolutely devastated by it and it'd push her to even further extremes than she's already been pushed to

[was-that-a-pun]

Is it okay if I mention this, like, AU idea I had in my head? What if Susan actually worked as a detective? I was kind of researching, like, the weird happenings around playtime,and she kind of used going to the factory for Jack's birthday as a kind of way gather some information, and the incident happens. And by that point, she was getting closer to solving the truth and everything. How would Susan react after that? I imagine she'd kind of be pretty devastated and actually believe it's her fault. The conversation with Doey will be kind of messed up when you think about it.

Oh man that would mean the accident would destroy her EVEN MORE.

This'd also work nicely with that idea you had in a previous ask of Susan and Claire Harper (mommy long legs mom/counselor who sounds like she wanted to adopt her) teaming up, Marie could be an informant or co conspirator feeding her intel on whats going on as she tries to find out the fate of her own daughter.

I can just imagine her before the tour, this long serious talk about staying close and safe and not trusting anyone who works there, She knows he love Doey but the people who make the character are not the good guys he is.

And Jack would be right at her elbow as she goes through her research, only slightly watering down her findings as he asks question after question the way all 8 year olds do.

Not only would she be even more devastated, but I think that Susan would be more prepared when the letter arrives and have contingencies to get her, George, and Jack (Doey) out of there because she'd go in knowing for sure this is a trap and the ways, or at least rumors, of how playtime can change people.

Maybe she even manages to get a few of his friends out as well?

And years later as she cooks pasta with a Bearhug on her hip and a boogiebot critiquing the recipe when Hoppy and Doey shout from the living room, where George is just coming in from the backyard, that there's something going on on the news and they need to come see.

The Hour of Joy has come and gone, and everyone has disappeared.

[was-that-a-pun]

Love that idea, he's still unsure of Susan at this point in the story but in the future? especially in a version where not only does everyone get out but Doey is also able to split into the separate kids? He'd fail sooo badly while trying to be subtle about it it'd be hilarious as Susan tries not to laugh while playing along so he doesn't get scared off XD

And yes 100% best time buried under that cuddle puddle X3

On the flip side imagine needing the cuddles as comfort when upset and its a literal cuddle puddle as he just blorps into a sad little mound of dough in her lap

Kevin would be a cuddler methinks. Been obsessed with @/was-that-a-pun’s Love Him Til The Day That You Die fic/au and I think that once Kev warms up to Susan he’s just like… the biggest cuddlebug you’ve ever seen. Now that he knows what parental affection feels like he can’t get enough. He never asks because he’s embarrassed but sometimes when Susan is doing stuff he’ll just stand there and hug her while she does whatever she’s doing. He’ll just worm his way under her arm and snuggle into her side and stay there for hours. Eventually the others join in and Susan just gets trapped under 800 pounds of dough sons (she is having a great time. even if she can’t feel her legs)

[was-that-a-pun]

Why did I say Medic is the only adult- made-toy in safe haven when I can have Thomas the Bron there!

By the point the game starts he'd be the 73 year old, cancer survivor, haven grandpa spending his days in the storage room watching the kids read and thinking how much nicer this is than the small containment cell Playtime had him isolated in.

It's been a hard time but that Doey boy does a good job, yes he does.